


you remind me of me

by harlock



Series: hell isn't where we're going, it's where we've been [4]
Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: Alternate Canon, Attempt at Humor, Companionable Snark, Developing Relationship, M/M, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 12:25:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14520522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlock/pseuds/harlock
Summary: Yama gets caught during a raid and thrown into a far-flung Gaian prison asteroid, but it turns out he doesn't need a knight in black leather armor to rescue him after all.





	you remind me of me

Yattaran is usually patient with him. Usually.

But when he makes a split-second decision to break into a heavily-fortified prison asteroid just to mount a risky rescue effort, it seems Yattaran's patience becomes a brittle thing. Kei clapped a hand on her counterpart's shoulder and steered him out of the hangar as Harlock readied an armored suit, shoving him along when he started to get ornery with her while yelling back at his Captain about stupidity and recklessness.

Harlock paid them no mind, and only half listened as Kei sent him details and schematics via the communicator curved around his ear; he felt the low hum of approval from the _Arcadia_ 's engines beneath his feet as he slammed the controls to open the hangar deck. 

He was determined to bring back what both he and his old friend considered _his_ , even if his crew might think him insane for it.

 

What's strange is the quiet when he arrives.

Nothing about his entry is normal; the defense satellites are floating dead in the space around the prison, the shields are deactivated, and the gravity lock is dead. Everything about this is _wrong_ and something is amiss, and perhaps this was indeed a reckless endeavor. 

 _"Captain? There's a small concentration of life signs in topside hangar."_ Kei's voice crackles in his ear and she calls out directions to help him find his way in the cloying darkness of the corridors. 

He hears nothing, and the track lighting only works in bursts or flashes as he propels himself through the halls. None of the elevators are functioning, none of the doors activate as he passes, and for a man whose spend the majority of his life on a haunted battleship, this place was starting to make his instincts itch.

 _"This is odd."_ Kei spoke up again, and he could hear the confusion in her voice, could imagine the frown on her face as she continued, _"There are maybe only a few people in the entire prison, sir. I don't understand. This is a Gaian colony prison, it should be full—"_

A jarring tremor shook the entire compound as Harlock entered a new level, and he was quick to push off a wall and propel himself down the corridor towards a broken elevator. Firing his saber at the escape hatch, he shoved off the car and into the darkness again, gaining levels quickly through the inactive shaft until he reached the guard level. 

"What is it?" He asked, readjusting to the sudden flood of light from this level, pushing himself onward and following Kei's next round of directions.

 _"The escape pods were jettisoned. They look a little crowded from the scans."_ Yattaran answers instead, though he still sounds annoyed. _"Shit—Captain—"_

He doesn't hear Yattaran's next words as an explosion rocks the entire asteroid and debris floats through the corridors. He stops taking his time then, keeping his gravity saber in hand as he launches himself off walls around corners to get to the hangar bay as quickly as possible. 

 _"The satellites, they're self-destructing, someone is setting them off—"_ Kei yells through the comms and Harlock arrives at the bay doors at last as another distant explosion rocks the asteroid.

He can hear cheers and yells, and Kei tells him another escape pod is thrown into the airspace from the prison. But what he sees once he manages to blast open one of the doors from the guard level, is not what he expected.

There's a group of Gaia Sanction officers collected in one corner, where four armed prisoners have forced them into a huddle while another group is being escorted to the pods and tossed in; they've been disarmed and given space suits, and are being herded into the pods four and five at a time to send them out into space in different directions. 

A hologram of the current star system is projected from a device on the floor, with a familiar young man gesturing to different points and calling out a new destination for each group of captive guards. He's spotted when he comes to the third level's railing to peek over, and Harlock removes his mask to reveal his face when several prisoners point their stolen weapons at him. 

He can't help it, he's smirking, and then there's a surprised gasp among the yells when Yama himself finally catches sight of Harlock above them.

"Captain! What are you doing here?!" Yama launches himself off the ground level and into empty space, floating upwards the lack of gravity and grabbing the railing once he reaches Harlock, "You shouldn't have come—"

Harlock takes his hand and holds tight as Yama pushes himself over the railing to land on his feet, "The _Arcadia_ leaves no one behind, Yama."

Confusion flickers across Yama's expression, and then an exasperated frown, and soon a tiny smile as he meets Harlock's gaze, "I'm not a damsel in distress, sir." 

Harlock gestured towards the situation below as Yama's smile pulled a little wider, "No, you're a damsel doing damage."

Yama's laughter bubbles out of him somewhat manically and something in Harlock's chest catches in his throat, and for a brief moment he reminds himself _I can't lose this_ ; "Let me finish here. Then we can go home."

Harlock released him as Yama pulled away and pushed himself back down to the floor, directing the sendoff of their captives and the subsequent shut down of the prison asteroid. He relayed the situation back to _Arcadia_ as he watched Yama set explosives throughout the bay and followed him to the mainframe room to do the same. 

They returned to the _Arcadia_ soon after, with Harlock ordering a full retreat from the asteroid's space as Yama's explosives detonated and the asteroid collapsed from the inside-out.

 

Later, when the excitement died down and the crew had allowed Yama to escape the revelry of his return, he made his way to Harlock's quarters; seeking out their captain wasn't difficult, but the crew usually left him to his solitude during their celebrating. 

Miimei was absent when Yama entered, blinking against the sudden contrast from the lit corridor to the captain's dim cabin. He absently wondered how they could find candles in the far reaches of space, but let the thought slip away when he found Harlock standing before the wide bay of windows. 

Harlock had discarded his cape, left it draped over the arm of his chair, along with a half-full glass of wine upon the massive desk; the surface devoid of anything personal save for a few candles and the open wine bottle. 

The captain gave no indication that he'd heard Yama enter, but he knew not to assume otherwise. Yama's steps were quiet as he walked around the desk, trailing his fingertips along the edge as he moved passed it and stopped at Harlock's side.

Between one breath and the next, he found himself pinned to the window and Harlock's arms caging him in as the old man seemed to tower over him. Yama relaxed against the cool glass despite the strange look in the captain's eye and the war of thoughts and feelings that he wished he could decipher.

"That was stupid."

Yama blinked at him, head tilted in question, "It was."

"You should have waited."

He tried not to smile, "I knew you'd show up eventually."

"That was reckless, Yama." 

Harlock moved closer as they spoke, one hand appearing to trail down the side of Yama's face, a deep crease forming between his brows as his eye narrowed. Yama couldn't hold back the smile then, bringing his own hand up to grasp Harlock's and press it to his cheek.

"So were you."

Harlock didn't answer again, instead burying his face against the column of his throat and mouthing along his jugular, "Don't be so foolish next time."

Yama let his head fall back and his eyes close, breathing slow and deep as the warmth rose in his chest, "No promises, Captain."

 


End file.
